PCCI to Angara: Prioritize student proficiency in ICT

MANILA, Philippines —  Information and communications technology (ICT) development and proficiency in students should be a priority agenda, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) urged newly appointed Education Secretary Sonny Angara amid continuing advances in digital technology.

“As we prepare our students to be future members and leaders of our workforce, we hope that our government could prioritize honing their skills and equipping them with the right information and tools to cope with the ever-changing digital landscape,” PCCI president Enunina Mangio said.

Citing the 2023 Coursera’s Global Skills Report, which showed the Philippines placing 99th out of 100 countries in terms of technology, business and data science skills, the PCCI underscored the importance of technical knowledge and skills.

“I believe this is something that we should seriously assess and address to better improve our ranking,” Mangio said.

She said the country’s competitiveness in the areas covered by the report has been deteriorating.

Legislative measures authored by Angara in the Senate include the Digital Workforce Competitiveness Act, National Digital Transformation Act, Local ICT Officers Act and the Science and Technology Parks Incentives Act.

Meanwhile, President Marcos has asked Angara to improve the knowledge of Filipino children on Philippine history.

“The one thing I asked of him was to please teach our children Philippine history. Because I have seen my children’s workbooks and there’s very little said about the history of the Philippines,” Marcos said.

“And for me that is so important for the simple reason that that is what [explains] why we are like this, why we have this character, was because of our history,” he said.

Marcos also instructed the incoming DepEd chief to help teachers become financially secure as he noted that they are the key to any successful program in the DepEd.

“We have to, of course, financial(ly) make sure that they can feed their families. Because we tend to forget sometimes that teachers have families,” the President said.

The Chief Executive also ordered the retraining of teachers so they can adapt to recent developments and